Animal Planet Live

Main menu

Madeira Park, Sunshine Coast, British Columbia

Madeira Park was named by Joseph Gonsalves, who settled here in the early 1900s after arriving from Madeira Island near Portugal. The communities of Garden Bay, Madeira Park and Irvine’s Landing form what is collectively known as Pender Harbour located on the Sunshine Coast of BC.

Pender Harbour is a tough part of the Sunshine Coast to get a handle on. If you try to figure it out as you are passing by on Hwy 101, you’ll never figure out where freshwater lakes end and saltwater coves begin.

This area is like a wonderful ecological maze. Even if you take the plunge and begin exploring the roads that connect the three ocean side towns found in the area, you’d be hard pressed to keep things straight.

Take a relaxing walk down easy paths you will find here. Or go on one of the more difficult hikes through the area surrounding Pender Harbour. The routes to Pender Hill and up Mount Daniel are popular with practised hikers, their summits providing amazing views overlooking the water.

Pender Harbour offers a surprising array of amenities for the population. Madeira Park is the main shopping centre for the region, with banks, IGA, the Oak Tree Market (great butcher!), liquor store, pharmacy, RONA, tool rental yard, handicrafts and furniture stores, as well as and art gallery and book & gift stores. The Pender Harbour Health Clinic includes a full time Dentist and Medical Clinic as well as offering a variety of other services including chiropractors and physiotherapists. Restaurants, pubs and coffee shops round out the rest of the business community.

When you drive through the village and will find yourself at Madeira Landing, the first real indication of how close you are to seawater in this maze of waterways and land. The marina offers a small well-maintained picnic area with tables, lawn and gardens and the notice board on the pier offers boats, tours, and halibut cheeks for sale in this mixed commercial fishing and pleasure boating area.

Madeira Park is located on Pender Harbour off Highway 101 on the Sunshine Coast of BC. Travelers from the Lower Mainland should take a ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale, and then drive 50 miles northwest on Highway 101.

Madeira Park, with its secure settled feel and its availability for so many land and water outdoor pursuits, is popular with landlubbers and boaters alike.